Number 7

[So? What are your thoughts, Marcus?]

"My thoughts... well, she is a good person. From what I saw, I can say that with relative certainty."

[From what you saw, that is the conclusion you would arrive at.]

"Are you suggesting that there is more to it?"

[Far more, Marcus. The ability "relate"... this ability is actually both extremely useful and completely useless at the same time. Do you know why?]

"Why?"

[The ability forces its target to witness something that they can relate to the user with. For example. While you may have thrown away your emotions in this battle, you are a person who views the innocent and hardworking as admirable.]

Marcus and Seven discussed with one another in the world of nothingness - somewhere between life and death following the memories they had witnessed.

[As such, you have been shown a scene in which you would feel pity or anger towards the people who harmed Celia. After all, you do believe that placing such a debt upon her was unfair - no?]

"That much is true. Are you suggesting that these scenes were nothing more than that - scenes which were played in my mind? Creations of my imagination to draw Celia as a better person than she actually is, thus forcing me to relate to her?"

[No, that isn't it. The scenes were real. However I'm sure you've heard the term 'lie of omission'. All of those scenes happened, but you weren't shown any scenes which would destroy your view of Celia. Essentially, your perception of her is filtered.]

"You know this because relate was one of the unnumbered, correct?"

[Indeed.]

"And the unnumbered... just who are they to you?"

[I will explain everything later. But for now... I suppose I will tell you one thing.]

Pausing for a moment, Seven continued.

[They are everything to me.]

And suddenly, his voice became saturated with a deep seated anger.

[And it is exactly because they are everything to me... that I wish to ruin this world.]

----

When Marcus awoke, a girl was standing in front of him.

This blonde girl, who wore an expression of concern, was surrounded by the bodies of the dozens of men that Marcus had slain just moments before.

"Is this enough?"

As Marcus stood up from his sudden slumber, the man brushed off his suit as he fixed his coat - yet the girl continued to plead with him.

"Have you killed enough? All these men... they lost their lives because of you. Do you still intend to try and attack the Owner?"

Suddenly, the woman placed her hand upon the shoulder of Marcus, her expression filling with sorrow.

"Won't you abandon your attack and turn around to prevent any further bloodshed?"

"I myself am not a man who has much experience with bloodshed."

Brushing off the hand, Marcus stood forward with determination as he responded to the woman.

"Before this world was changed, I was nothing more than a Salaryman. I worked 9 to 5 - or at least, that was the shift that was agreed upon at the time of my employment."

Explaining to the woman, Marcus closed his eyes as he folded his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth as he spoke.

"Killing those men... well, they are not the first that I have killed. And they intended to stop my advance, and protect this place. Therefore... I have no issue with their deaths. But you..."

Opening his eyes, the man glanced over to Celia with a stern expression.

"Why do you pretend to care?"

"Eh?"

"You don't truly care about them, do you? I can tell that much. The memories you showed me... perhaps you yourself did not personally sift through them, but you intended to make me feel bad for you. Am I wrong?"

As Marcus said these things, Celia began to shift her eyes back and forth, as if an unexpected situation had come about.

'Why?'

"You intended to force me to relate to you by showing me things which would harness my sympathy and pity, thus turning me away - or even better, encouraging me to save you."

With a smirk, the man's arrogance dug into Celia like a knife.

"But is that not the same for these men, who rushed at me on your order without a second thought?"

'Why are you able to resist?'

"I... I don't know what you're talking about-"

"If you don't know, then that means you're ignorant. Your ability - relate. You play memories which will force an opponent to relate to you on a personal level. By doing this, you've harnessed the sympathy of so many around you. They view you as a damsel in distress - someone who they should protect at all costs. And perhaps at one point... you truly were someone worth saving."

Celia was frozen at the man's words, unable to even respond as he read through her.

"If I were a truly wicked person, then no such protective desires would have been invoked within me. But perhaps another set of memories would have been shown to me in that case. One in which I would find you to be someone… worthy of doing business with."

Suddenly, as if backed into a corner, the demeanor of the woman changed.

Her expression was no longer innocent, but instead shifted to the cold expression of a dominatrix.

"If you received the memories of my past before the Hotel, then you should be a good person, right?"

Pressing forward, the woman approached the man as her gaze sharpened.

"And if you're a good person, then you should relate to me all the more. Why then, do you act like one of the other types?"

"Because my heart is something that I completely ignore."

As Marcus made this statement, the woman was taken aback by his words.

"It is true that I feel sympathy for you. It is true that, based on the memories you showed to me, that I would have assisted and saved the person I was shown. But that is not the person sitting in front of me today, now is it? And even if it was..."

With a smirk, the man's next words sent even further confusion into Celia.

"I have no control over my own actions anyways."

"Is that some sort of excuse for what you're doing? Some sort of nihilistic worldview where you don't even take responsibility for your own actions?", Celia questioned.

"Wrong. You should understand it better than anyone, given that you're only here according to the orders of your boss."

The man spoke without hesitation, revealing knowledge to Celia that even she was certain had not been shown to him.

"I'm nothing more than a subordinate - and I have no power to disobey."

And with these words, the man's expression lost all semblance of emotion.

"Therefore... I will obey."

Raising a finger, the man pressed further as he continued.

"But unlike you... I have partial reign over my decisions."

Reaching out his hand to the woman, he grasped the air within his palm as he flicked upwards.

And as he did so - the woman began to levitate.

"Huh!? What's happening?"

The woman looked around with panic, and the other two women widened their eyes in surprise as the businessman displayed a show of power unlike anything they could have anticipated.

"So even if I say that I am forced... not all of what I do is against my will."

"Hey!!! Are you listening!? Put me down!!!"

The woman shouted, yet even as she did so the man continued his monologue, lazily glancing up to his prey as she struggled.

"Which is what makes everything so complicated - and the reason why you were unable to obtain me as another one of your pawns."

In that instant, the woman fell.

Slowly, the man walked in front of her, catching her in his arms without a care in the world.

"What... what are you doing?", the woman whispered as she was slung across his back.

"I'm going to use you. Now if you'll excuse me... your current state is unfavorable."

At that moment, the man laid a chop upon the neck of the woman, who became limp as she went unconscious.

----

'What just happened, Seven? It was only a brief moment... so short that I don't believe anyone else had noticed it... but I was not in control of my own actions. And at that moment... the woman flew up into the air.'

[That was redirect.]

'Redirect? I thought that he was a single cell without any way to implement his own consciousness?'

[He is. However, just as I can switch my control over this body with yours, I can forcibly put an Unnumbered which I have absorbed in control - though there is a risk to this.]

With a low tone, Seven explained to Marcus the strange phenomena which had just occurred.

[The Unnumbered has no ability to express itself, as it is only a single cell. Therefore it's control must be instantaneous, only for the purpose of activating an ability. And in that instant... the direction of gravity upon that woman was redirected - for a limited amount of time. Of course... allowing an Unnumbered to control your body for any longer would result in this body becoming a hollow husk, and using an ability too often would make you incompatible with redefine, so we cannot use his abilities freely.]

Suddenly, Seven chuckled as he mocked Marcus.

[Heh... but you're quite the gentleman, aren't you? Despite your acting, you still saved the woman from her fall. She wouldn't have died from that height, but she would have been injured. I suppose her ability truly did affect you.]

'Is there any reason to let such a woman die off the notions you threw in my head? Furthermore... it is exactly as you stated, is it not?'

Yet despite Seven's taunt, Marcus stood firm as he responded.

'She still holds great use to us. And allowing injuries would only dampen her use.'

[Hah... well, allowing her to be injured is another method - one which I personally would have used.]

'I see.'

[Are you not going to say anything further?]

'Do I have time to be leisurely chatting with you? There are enemies in front of me - and they don't appear to be pleased.'

[Enemies... eh?]

With a snicker, Seven chuckled to himself.

[Just what is an enemy?]

----

"Valerie. I've seen enough. We can't hold back anymore."

"Understood."

As Marcus held the woman slung across his back, the other two who remained seemed to come to an agreement as they stood forward.

"Get your filthy hands off her. Right now."

With a demanding tone, Melissa shouted out to the attacker, who merely smirked at her order.

"Filthy... yes. I suppose that would be a good description of these rotten hands. I understand."

With this statement, the man dropped the unconscious woman to the ground, her body landing in the mud with a splash.

As the rain above continued to increase, the skies had become dark to the point where the sun had been completely blocked out.

"Why you!! How can you treat her like that!?"

"Melissa. You're being reckless."

Melissa found her shoulder grabbed by Valerie, who stopped her for just a moment, yet the haughty girl merely glanced back with a grin.

"So what?"

"I see. Continue then."

And with this short interaction, Melissa rushed forward as she aimed her luger at the man.

"I'll kill you."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With three shots, Marcus' chest erupted in an agonizing pain - one which he could never possibly become accustomed to.

"Blergh!!!"

Spitting up blood as his very heart was run through by a bullet, the man's internal composition went to mush - yet oddly enough the man remained standing.

"Hah! Look at that! All that talk, all that bullshit you spouted, and you're still bleeding red like the rest of us. You look like you're in quite a bit of pain! Even if you can regenerate or revive from the dead, it still hurts like hell, doesn't it?"

"It... does."

Stumbling forward, the man whose heart had been torn apart continued to move without hesitation.

"However, you cannot kill me."

A fire lit in his eyes, the man showed no sign of weakness, fending off the immense pain that tore his mind to pieces.

"Not anymore."

Holding forth a hand, the man's limb became a tentacle that shot forth, wrapping itself around the woman as he lifted her up.

Yet in that instant, as he wrapped the tentacle around the woman, an explosion occurred.

A grenade from one of the bodies of the fallen men exploded, ripping the tentacle in two as the woman was freed.

"Tch..."

Heat erupted within his arm as shrapnel entered the extended limb, and the flesh fell to the ground as Marcus retracted the now severed arm as it reformed itself.

'Was that merely a coincidence? A grenade? Or perhaps... it was her ability?'

"What's wrong, you freak of nature? You were so eager to attack me before, but now you've become cautious? Do those bullets hurt so bad? Or maybe it's because something so unexpected happened?"

The woman aimed her gun once more, this time at the head of Marcus.

'Why is she taunting me like this? When faced with someone who can extend and regenerate their limbs and doesn't die even when shot in the heart, one's reaction would normally be that of terror. So why... does she lack such fundamental fear?'

The woman was clearly concerned for Celia - that much was fact. The fact that she had ordered Marcus to let go of her was proof of this.

How could someone who held another person's life to be dear have no semblance of fear then?

'Or perhaps... she holds no fear for her own life?'

Yet the demeanor of this woman didn't suggest that she was someone who simply didn't care for her own life - as a matter of fact, she seemed to be the exact opposite.

Someone who would prioritize her own life above others.

Why then?

'The answer is simple. She has some ability that gives her such confidence.'

While Marcus was able to deduce this, the nature of such an ability was still in question.

Was the explosion of that grenade merely a coincidence, or was it a part of this ability?

Bang! Bang!

As Marcus thought this, bullets filled his brain.

"What are you doing, dozing off and thinking like that as if I'm not right in front of you?", the woman shouted with irritation. "If you have time to think, then clearly you've forgotten where you are!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A mess was made of Marcus' face as bullets flew through his forehead, nose, and eyes. The pain was enough to make his mind cry out in despair, at which he fell forward holding his head in agony.

Yet he did not falter.

'What is it? I have to test it.'

[Marcus. You truly are losing your mind.]

'So what?'

[It's quite interesting to watch.]

Ignoring the comments of Seven, the man shot forth his arm once more as the tentacle formed, wrapping again around Melissa.

"Eh? You still haven't learned your lesson? I may not be able to kill you, but you can't kill me either."

And this statement made by the woman was enough to confirm the suspicions of Marcus - for in that instant, a nearby fire hydrant burst.

The pressurized water, which was filled with rot and filth, shot out as it tore into the extended limb of Marcus, ripping it apart in similar fashion to before.

In that instant, Marcus realized what was happening.

'Heh.... I see.'

Gazing up with the eyes of a demon, a grin drew itself across the remolded face of Marcus.

"I guess that was quite RECKLESS of me."

----

[Reckless.]

[A truly troublesome ability.]

[Unlike Redirect or Relate, which were both activated by the users, Reckless is a more passive ability that is always enabled.]

[The more reckless the actions of the user are, the better their results will be.]

[The more risks they take, the more things will just happen to work out in their favor.]

[To put it simply... so long as she is taking risks, she will be next to invincible.]

----

His mind was beginning to throb in pain, the bullets still lodged within his head.

Within his heart, his flow of blood had been interrupted. While his body did not require such a thing, for whatever reason the functions continued in a strange manner which followed no normal sense of logic.

Everything had begun to spin around him, yet even so, through sheer resolve Marcus clung onto his life.

"I wonder if there is any amount of bullets that will stop you?"

Suddenly, Marcus heard a voice from behind him, yet he had no time to turn around - for in that instant the spastic rattling of gunfire lit up his back.

"NGH!!"

Marcus groaned in pain as his body was filled with more and more lead, spitting up blood as he fell forward.

'They're really kneading me like dough... I guess this is to be expected from executives of a mafia...'

Turning around, the man was greeted with the cold expression of the black haired woman - Valerie.

She held an uzi in her hand, smoke rising from it as she changed the magazine and aimed it at Marcus once more.

Ratatatatatat!

And then unloaded the entire clip into Marcus, drawing a figure 8 as she tried to cover his entire body with the shots.

Click!

'Ah... ah....'

As he was filled with bullets, the pain began to overwhelm the mind of Marcus - who was holding on through his determination alone.

'Am I going to die here?'

Fear spread through the man, who thought himself invincible once he had learned of the cause behind his death - yet right now he realized that no such invincibility was present.

For his death was not caused by an organ failure - but rather by his own mental forfeit.

[Haha... is the pain too much for you to bear, Marcus?]

"You certainly look much more pathetic than before... and yet you had the gall to talk so arrogantly.", Valerie commented as her statements were strengthened by the taunts of Seven.

[If you want to go ahead and die, I can take over from here. Of course... if I do that... I'll do things MY way.]

At this statement, another clip of rounds was unloaded upon the man.

"No. I won't die. I... wont."

Opening his eyes - which had been gouged out as they regrew - Marcus stood up even while blood dripped from hundreds of holes within his constantly regenerating body.

"For if I do... then nothing will go according to plan."

Standing up, Marcus faced Valerie head on, Melissa at his back.

"You already killed so many, so our boss won't let it slide if we let you go. I hope you understand that I'm required to kill you.", Valerie commented. "Even if you give up now, that won't be acceptable."

"That's right. And even if you did give up, we'd have to hunt you down sooner or later. It's best just to give in now.", Melissa added.

With the two spouting such things at Marcus, everything seemed to be hurdling in on him.

'I... cannot kill these two either. They are... not yet broken.'

With this thought, Marcus trodded forward, a line of blood trailing behind him as it washed away in the rain.

'I will do it. Even if it kills me.'

With a sinister smile, the man looked upon the woman who aimed her uzi at him.

'I'll... save them.'

[You seem to be determined to keep them alive. Of course... I want you to do that as well. But I have to ask - why did you have no issue slaughtering the other men?]

'That much is simple, Seven.'

'I could tell by a single glance that those men were not people who could be saved.'

'Those men... they were nothing more than mafia thugs who would only ever follow the orders of the one in charge. Perhaps Celia may have won over their hearts, but if she told them to turn on their true master, they would have killed her immediately. It is because she knew this... that she didn't use them in such a manner.'

'But these three?'

'I can tell... they are people who are struggling.'

'People who have done everything they can to survive in this jungle, rising to the top only in order to rid themselves of the wretched man who sits there.'

'I know this because I too... wanted to do it.'

'But I failed... and these three... they succeeded.'

'Which is why they are so determined not to allow such a thing to go to waste with my appearance.'

As Marcus thought these things, Seven remained silent.

For there was no response which would have been adequate.

"I am still not dead. How many bullets do you have left, I wonder? If you unload them all into me and I am still living, will you perhaps realize that your defeat is inevitable?", Marcus exclaimed - however he was met with another set of rounds in his face.

"My death will not - cannot - shall not happen. It's impossible for you to defeat me. Go ahead. Attack me if you can."

Holding out her arms, the woman named Valerie stepped forth with a confident grin, at which a number of strands of hair spiraled around her like spikes, all converging on her being.

"I'll take that opportunity then."

The voice of another woman filled the air, however as these strands of hair honed in on Valerie, they were stopped by an invisible field just before they could pierce her.

Turning back in surprise, Valerie looked to see the other woman who had now shown herself, a smug smile on both expressions.

"You two seem to be having quite a fun time with my former manager. It's pitiful watching him take such a beating like this. I can't just stand by and watch, now can I?"

"Hah... former manager? This man is nothing more than a psychopath. But I suppose that would make two of you."

Sparks flew between the two women, who were oddly similar in demeanor yet ever so different in their values.

"Marcus... I told you not to lose your temper like that. In times like this, you need to cut off emotions."

"So they were all alive after all... that little bitch... she must have been plotting this all from the start! Is this a coup d'etat by that girl?", Melissa shouted.

"Wow. Looks like we got a smart one here. How long did it take you to figure that out?", Sylvia responded sarcastically - to the extreme irritation of Melissa.

"If you two are here... then the other two... they would likely be where Gerard is? But there are those two protecting him, so he won't be so easily defeated.", Valerie analyzed.

"That doesn't matter right now."

Speaking as he plucked bullets out of his own flesh, Marcus drew attention to himself.

"Now that my backup has arrived... this makes everything simpler."

Closing his eyes, the man stood perfectly still as the two merely cocked their heads in suspicion.

"Hey... what is he doing?", Melissa asked.

"How should I know? He truly must be... no... if..."

Suddenly, a revelation appeared to Valerie, however it was already too late.

For the space around them distorted - and the four suddenly found themselves in a newfound location.

[Yes... this is what I've been aiming for, Marcus.]

[You're starting to really understand what it means... to redefine.]